Family
Quality Caregivers
We have struggled for months to get quality, caring, committed caregivers in the house to help care for my mom. Especially as her needs change and she continues to decline, this becomes harder and harder. It makes me hesitant to try new people, but it is necessary as I become more exhausted. Recently we hired […]
Carrying Her Cross
This morning my mom wasn’t feeling very well at all. She surprised me by saying she felt like she was carrying her cross. I agreed. We talked about how everyone has their cross to carry as they make their way home to God. When I got in the car to go to church, I heard […]
Don’t Beat Yourself Up
Due to our lack of sleep, we decided to hire overnight caregivers. The first one came a couple nights ago. At the same time, we discovered that my mom was in tremendous pain. We did everything we knew to do, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. I called the Hospice company who sent […]
Aqua Net
This morning the hospice nurse and CNA were here at the same time. We got on the topic of hair care. The CNA said her grandmother’s hair was and still is very thick. She asked her how she managed to keep her beehive hairdos and such in place when she was younger. Her grandmother replied […]
Where’s Your Mom
Every night after dinner we say our prayers. We pray for and remember all our loved ones, those we promised to pray for and those most in need. Tonight as we were thinking of people, my mom said we should pray for my mom. She asked where my mom was. I said she was right […]
A Break
I have been getting very little sleep lately and had pretty much hit the proverbially wall. Today I was grateful that my sister cared for my mom all day so I could have a break. I tried to nap, but slept less than I would have liked. I’m hoping sleep will come tonight. I Found […]
Bird Conversations
I was blessed to get my mom outside for quite a while this morning. It was the perfect temperature for her – 80 degrees in the shade. She didn’t even have to wear a sweater or jacket. We admired the blooming flowers, especially the neighbor’s peonies that just started popping open. There was a lot […]
Communication
The first caregiver that we hired about a year ago still comes over 2 days a week. She has been such a hard worker, very reliable, and a calm presence. She is also Japanese and has difficulty hearing. Her accent is very strong and I wasn’t sure at first how she and my mom would […]
Utmost Patience
My mom was somewhat agitated today which ramped up in the afternoon as usual. However, she was more unsettled than normal. She was up and down and in and out of bed instead of napping. She was so tired, but would only lay down for a couple minutes before getting up. Luckily, one of our […]
Made the Time
Over the last week, my mom has been asking for a priest so she can go to Confession. It was somewhat of a surprise as unfortunately she is super confused most of the time. But this was a request that she made for several days. I called the woman at our parish who coordinates such […]
Still Finding God 